Work Heroes Amongst Us

A hero is defined as “a person who is admired or idealized (not idolized) for courage, outstanding achievements or noble qualities. Example—war hero.”

It is true that battles in war provide opportunities to act courageously, often in life-or-death situations. Heroism can easily be noticed in these desperate times. However, heroism is not just for the battle field. Just plain old life and living have plenty of land mines to challenge us. How courageous is the teenager, that despite extreme peer pressure, abides by their own sense of what is right? Or perhaps someone who observes others that are doing the same ill-advised activity, maintaining their integrity to not “go along with the crowd”? Or even the simple feat of keeping one’s word despite personal inconvenience; and here is a simple yet significant example of bravery: “fessing” up to something done instead of “fibbing” about it.

This is not a newsletter about ethics by any means. These are just some character traits that “everyday heroes” seem to do well. And darn, talk about slippery slopes!

If we examine people that we look up to, they tend to have the strength to do the most optimal behaviors when confronted with choices. I guess one could say that to live on planet earth, day to day, and to earn a good night’s sleep it takes a certain amount of courage. And talk about something “contagious”, courage sure does raise the bar of a standard of living for those that observe it in others.

The opposite of courage is being fearful. They say animals can even smell it! We all have experienced fear to various degrees in our lives. Heroes do too, but seem to be able to able to overcome the sometimes mind scattering effects of it, to do noble things despite perceived dangers.

For over 30 years we have been working with companies to prevent painful and costly sprain/strain injuries to employees. We aren’t providing equipment or anything tangible that can be seen and touched. We provide training to employees that create change in physical and mental behaviors, i.e.: “now I know what causes back injuries. I am going to apply these principles and stretches for my personal benefit and that of my family’s.”

Therefore, it is a service, not something that you touch, feel or kick the tires on. One may say it can take a little more courage to buy a “concept” versus a thing. Some execs unfortunately have flat out said no because “if it doesn’t work it could affect my reputation or even job status.” This was despite significant evidence of a successful track record. Their comfort level was being stretched too far. Unfortunately doing nothing doesn’t lower injuries either.

The other day, and the muse for this newsletter, an executive who was so excited he said he and his colleague could become heroes with what this program could do to injury costs and the health of the employees.

In 1997 a person who since became a friend, saw the impact that back, shoulder, neck and wrist injuries were having on workers’ comp costs and lost time. Based on conversations and a test project with some employees, he committed to having us do Backsafe® training for 20,000 flight attendants, 15 at a time. Two years later he and several of his executive team, representing his company, received the highest safety award given in the airline industry. His decision created a 63% reduction in back and neck claims and more importantly the flight attendants experienced significantly less pain and injuries in their lives on and off the job

This person never got a hero’s award, but he sure did something that made a lot of difference in people’s lives even to this day!

We like making heroes! It is pretty easy to do actually. All we have to do is to deliver to our customers what we promise them! The program curriculum does the rest!

It’s time! Contact us today!

How Backsafe® helped Joseph reclaim his quality of life: